Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.
A. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
B. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, they cost less,
C. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers, in comparison with most sport utility vehicles, and have a lower cost, they
D. Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
E. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles the cost is lower, and they

OA:A
I have a confusion between A and D,though there have been many posts on this question,

If we remove modifiers from option A, it would be
A - Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and cost less, get better
gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

list is like x,and y,z,and w -- It looks like we have two 'AND' in a single list of items

I also understand that if we remove AND from A

it would be: Minivans carry as many as seven passengers cost less, get better
gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

which is awkward.

could you let me know What i am missing

I also get that no other answer choice is correct .

Last edited by abcgmat on Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:38 am; edited 2 times in total

Minivans carry as many as seven passengers AND, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

AND here serves a definite purpose: to make clear that the modifier compared with most sport utility vehicles refers NOT to the preceding action (carry as many as seven passengers) but ONLY to the actions that follow (cost LESS, get BETTER gas mileage, have a SMOOTHER ride).

Note that all of the actions that follow AND make a comparison between minivans and most sport utility vehicles.
The action that precedes AND does NOT make a comparison between minivans and most sport utility vehicles.

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Since we are unsure if the given senentence is correct or not, lets try to spot the commonality in the options, and then the errors in each option.

To solve this let us go by options.

Consider options: B, C, and E.
Each of these sentences have "they" in it.

Option B:
A pronoun preceeded with a ',' always refers to the subject before the ','.
Therefore 'they' in "sports utility vechicles, they" refers to 'vechicles'.
But as per our original statement the author meant minivans to be cheaper.

So, eliminate option B.

Option C:
As already discussed for option B, a pronoun preceeded with a ',' always refers to the subject before the ',' .
Therefore 'they' in "have a lower cost, they" refers to 'lower cost' which according to autho should refer to minivans.

So, eliminate option C.

Option E:
Are you sure that 'they' in this statement is referring to 'minivans'? No, it may be referring to 'sports utility vechicles'.
There is an ambiguity as to whom 'they' is referring to.

Note that, in GMAT the option we choose shouldn't end up in ambiguity.

So, elimiate option E.

Now, we are left out only with options: A and D.

Consider option D :
Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers,................, cost less.
What if these minivans carry just 6 passengers ? Are they going to cost more ??? Ruled out since it has changed the meaning.

We are left with just one option. Whether you agree or don't agree the left out option will be the answer.
And, the correct answer is option: A.